1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an article, such as a ticket, a card, a coupon and the like, which has an indicia-receiving layer with good printing characteristics and durability.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the progress of machinization of commercial transactions, magnetic cards having a magnetic layer and also an indicia-receiving layer on which various information such as a money amount, the number of times, a date, etc. are printed are used and set in a reproducing machine to settle accounts.
One example for using such a magnetic card is a ticket vending system, in which an amount of money, the number of times, a date and the like are printed on the indicia-receiving layer formed on a substrate, such as paper, by contacting an ink ribbon onto said layer by means of a printing head at high temperature in a ticket vending machine and then the ticket is sold. Currently, there are two combinations of the indicia-receiving layer and the ink ribbon.
A first combination comprises an indicia-receiving layer which is formed on a substrate, such as paper, by applying a dispersion of a light color inorganic pigment in a binder resin on the substrate and an ink ribbon having an ink layer formed by applying a pigment, such as carbon black or a dye such as nigrosine, dispersed in a wax and the like on a ribbon substrate. In this combination, the pigment or the dye is melt transferred to the indicia-receiving layer by pressing the ink ribbon to the indicia-receiving layer by a heated printing head. A second combination comprises an indicia-receiving layer formed by applying a binder resin which can hold dye molecules on a substrate and an ink ribbon having an ink layer formed from a dispersion of an anthraquinone type disperse dye or an azo disperse dye in a thermoplastic resin, such as polyvinyl alcohol and polyester. In this combination, the ink ribbon is heated by the printing head to evaporate or sublimate the dye and simultaneously to have it penetrate the indicia-receiving layer.
However, both combinations have their own drawbacks. When the indicia-receiving layer of the first combination is repeatedly rubbed in the ticket vending machine or the reproducing machine, it is broken or the thermal transfer ink is scraped. In the second combination, the indicia-receiving layer is discolored or the printed indicia fades due to moisture. Particularly in case where an aqueous emulsion or a water-soluble resin is used as the binder resin, when the card is used with bearing water droplets thereon, the binder resin is gradually deteriorated and finally the indicia penetrated in the indicia-receiving layer becomes illegible.
Neither combination of the indicia-receiving layer and the ink ribbon has satisfactory durability and printing characteristics.